Radio access networks, such as cellular wireless networks, are increasingly being used to provide streaming media content to mobile wireless devices. Such streaming media content may include audio and/or video, e.g., music selections, movies, or television programming.
Because of the real-time nature of such streaming media content, the user experience can be adversely affected by changing network conditions. For example, if the available bandwidth suddenly decreases, the user may notice a degradation in quality such as a media stream that stalls. One way to reduce such problems, is to adapt the streaming media content to changing network conditions. For example, if bandwidth availability decreases, the data rate of the streaming media content may be reduced (e.g., by changing the frame rate, frame type, or quantization level) in order to avoid having the media stream stall.
The technology to adapt media streams in this way is commercially available from Ortiva Wireless, Ja Jolla, Calif. Further information regarding adaptive streaming can be found in the following published U.S. patent applications, which are incorporated herein by reference: U.S. Pub. No. 2008/0052414, published Feb. 28, 2008; U.S. Pub. No. 2008/0062322, published Mar. 13, 2008; and U.S. Pub. No. 2008/0086570, published Apr. 10, 2008.